Profits from its mobile division had been the South Korean electronics firm's biggest earnings generator, responsible for about two thirds of the company's earnings. It rose 52 percent to 6.28 trillion won (US$5.6 billion) from a year ago.

Going forward, Samsung expects the smartphone and tablet market to grow under strong seasonality but competition will intensify with new product launches.

Strong performances in chips, display panels

Samsung also said its chip and display panel divisions also saw an improvement in their performances.

Its semiconductor business logged an operating profit of 1.76 trillion won (US$1.58 billion) in the second quarter, compared to 1.03 trillion won (US$925 million) a year before, due to high-margin products.

Its display panel unit's operating profit doubled to 2.92 trillion won (US$2.62 billion), due to strong demand for TV and tablets.

Elly grew up on the adrenaline of crime fiction and it spurred her interest in cybercrime, privacy and the terror on the dark side of IT. At ZDNet Asia, she has made it her mission to warn readers of upcoming security threats, while also covering other tech issues.